SEPTEMBER
September 28th – Mission Point via Neon Way
14 hikers gathered in the parking lot at the entrance to O’Melveny Park (the second-largest park in Los Angeles County) in Granada Hills on a cool overcast morning with intermittent light drizzle and poor visibility. Not to be deterred by the weather, we began our hike by walking southwest along the nearby sidewalk on Sesnon Blvd to its junction with Neon Way. We then followed Neon Way three blocks north to the lower end of the Sulphur Spring Fire Road (aka the Dr. Mario A. De Campos Trail).
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When we reached Mission Point, the fog was pretty thick (as shown in the group photo taken at the small, stone monument memorializing Mario De Campos, a lover of the local mountains). After a short break we resumed our hike by retracing our route a short distance downhill to the junction with the Mission Point Trail which we followed northeast as we made our way down into Bee Canyon; the trail became increasingly steep as it lost elevation and was somewhat muddy, but visibility increased considerably as we neared the canyon bottom and we were treated to excellent views of the rugged landscape to the north. After reaching the floor of Bee Canyon we followed the trail downstream into beautiful 627-acre O’Melveny Park with its well-maintained green lawns shaded by oak and eucalyptus trees; there are still some citrus trees near the entrance to the park which were bearing fruit the day of our hike (signs forbade us from “picking fruit”). We reached our vehicles, completing our loop hike, having hiked 6.1 miles with nearly 1,500’ of elevation gain/loss. Several types of plants were blooming including lots of bush sunflowers and datura (aka Jimson weed), as well as a little bush mallow and tree tobacco.
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September 21st – Wildwood Park Loop
7 hikers arrived in the main parking lot in Wildwood Park at the west end of Avenida de los Arboles in Thousand Oaks on a cool late-summer morning [3 other hikers who arrived a bit late joined us near Lizard Rock for a total of 10 hikers]. After taking a group photo, we began our counterclockwise loop hike by heading west on the Mesa Trail as we enjoyed the company of good friends.
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After the three late-arriving hikers joined us just below Lizard Rock, we followed the Lizard Rock Trail down into Hill Canyon and soon headed eastward into heavily shaded Wildwood Canyon. We headed upstream to a large shady picnic area where we took a rest/snack/bathroom break. We then crossed the flowing water several times before reaching Paradise Falls where we enjoyed looking at and listening to the waterfall. Continuing on up the Wildwood Canyon Trail, we spotted several dozen mallard ducks in the stream above the waterfall. Eventually we reached the always pleasant Indian Creek Trail and followed it up to an unnamed trail that led us back to our vehicles, thus completing a 5.4-mile hike with 950’ of elevation gain/loss while “beating the heat.” We also spotted lots of Cattails and blooming Dudleya “Live Forever” chalk plants during the hike.
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September 9th to 14th – Yosemite National Park
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 — Arrival and Mirror Lake (4,094′) Loop
11 Rancho Simi Trailblazers gathered at the Upper Pines Campground (4,000′) in Yosemite Valley in western Yosemite National Park for several days of camping and hiking in one of the most beautiful areas in the world (a 12th hiker joined us on Wednesday). After setting up camp at the base of Half Dome, we hiked over to the Mirror Lake Loop trailhead and then hiked the easy loop trail as it followed the Tenaya Creek up Tenaya Canyon.
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 — Upper Yosemite Fall from Yosemite Valley (4,000′) to Yosemite Falls Overlook (6,526′)
7 participants boarded a Yosemite Valley shuttle bus at the entrance to the campground and disembarked at the Yosemite Falls stop (frequent shuttle buses make a loop around Yosemite Valley, making it easy to reach hiking trailheads and the many other activities available each day). We hiked a short distance to the Upper (rather than the Lower) Yosemite Fall trailhead and began our mostly upward journey.
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2019 — Yosemite Valley Floor Loop: Lower Yosemite Fall to Curry Village
We again boarded a Yosemite Valley shuttle bus at the entrance to the campground and disembarked at the Yosemite Falls stop. However, this time we visited Lower Yosemite Fall and then began hiking westward on the Yosemite Valley Floor Loop Trail. It skirts the base of the cliffs that surround the valley and is frequently well-shaded.
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 — Happy Isles TH (4,035′) to the Backpackers Campground in Little Yosemite Valley (6,100′) via the Mist Trail, returning via the John Muir Trail
We hiked from our campground to Happy Isles and began the climb toward Nevada Fall on another pleasant morning. When we reached a fork in the trail we “stayed left” and began hiking the strenuous Mist Trail which led us up to Vernal Fall and then on up to Nevada Fall. Both waterfalls had subsided considerably from their late spring/early summer volumes, but were still captivating.
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019 — Glacier Point (7,214′) to Sentinel Dome (8,122′) to Taft Point (7,503′) and back
We carpooled to Glacier Point, which took about an hour. Once there we enjoyed the spectacular views of Yosemite Falls, North Dome, Half Dome, Yosemite Valley, Tenaya Canyon, Vernal Fall, and Nevada Fall as well as lots of distant mountain tops. We then followed the Pohono Trail to Sentinel Dome onto which we climbed and were rewarded with magnificent 360-degree views including (among many others) Half Dome, North Dome, Yosemite Falls, and El Capitan. We then continued along the Pohono Trail to Taft Point and the nearby Fissures and Profile Cliff.
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 — Strike camp and drive home (300+ miles)
We had a wonderful time in Yosemite Valley. The weather was prefect, the temperatures were mostly pleasant, the scenery was magnificent, and the company was congenial. Note: Two of the participants left on Sunday.
The TOTAL DISTANCE hiked as described above was 49.5 MILES with 8,313′ of elevation gain/loss.
September 7th – East Canyon to Mission Point
16 hikers met at the trailhead in the “East Canyon, Rice Canyon, and Michael D. Antonovich Open Space” section of the 4,000-acre Santa Clarita Woodlands Park via Interstate 5 and “The Old Road” in Santa Clarita. It was pleasantly cool as we began hiking southward along the non-maintained and somewhat-eroded East Canyon Motorway as it followed the small (dry) creek in the canyon bottom. The route was lined with bay laurel, black walnut, cottonwood, sycamore, and oak trees.
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